Wednesday 26 December 2018

UK-brewed Lager after WW II

The small number of UK breweries producing Lager carried on pretty much where they had left off before the war. As a mostly bottled product, Lager would have suffered during the war when shortages of bottles and crates limited production.

When restrictions such as these were removed, the sales of Lager although still very small, continued to increase. It seems to have reached a tipping point at the end of the 1950s when many regional breweries jumped in with Lagers of their own.

There was steady growth in Lager sales throughout the 1960s, but they really took off in the 1970s. As Lager sales increased, the number of Lagers available tended to decline, as national brands pushed aside the versions from regional breweries.

UK Lager sales 1960 - 1989
Year % Year % Year %
1960 1.0 1970 7.0 1980 30.7
1961 1.0 1971 9.9 1981 32.0
1962 2.0 1972 11.7 1982 33.0
1963 2.0 1973 14.9 1983 35.9
1964 2.0 1974 16.4 1984 38.9
1965 2.0 1975 19.7 1985 40.9
1966 2.0 1976 23.5 1986 43.4
1967 3.0 1977 24.5 1987 46.6
1968 4.0 1978 26.9 1988 48.8
1969 6.0 1979 29.1 1989 50.3
Source:
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17

The type of Lagers being brewed immediately after war’s end hadn’t all quite become the style that marched to domination. There were still some examples with above-average gravities, such as Graham’s Golden Lager (rebranded as Skol later in the 1950s) and Black Label. By the 1960s, few UK-brewed Lagers would have an OG much over 1030º.

The beers in the table below, with the exception of Black Label and the Steel Coulson beer, were ones which had been around before WW II. Though beers like Red Tower and Barclay Perkins, which had been big brands before the war, weren’t to last very long. The Barclay Perkins Lager brewery finished its days brewing Harp for Courage, Barclay’s London Lager having been dropped.


UK-brewed Lager after WW II
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1947 Barclay Perkins Draught Lager 26 1033 1006.4 3.46 80.61% 8
1950 Barclay Perkins Lager 30 1036.1 1008 3.65 77.84% 11
1950 Barclay Perkins Lager 31 1036.1 1008 3.65 77.84% 11
1950 Red Tower Lager 30 1035.8 1008.2 3.58 77.09% 13
1947 Unknown Pilsner 1035 1010 3.24 71.43%
1950 Alloa Brewery Light Lager 1043.4 1009.1 4.46 79.03% 7
1950 Alloa Brewery Graham's Golden Lager 30 1040.6 1010.6 3.89 73.89% 9
1952 Carlings (Brewed in Sheffield) Black Label 32 1042.3 1009.9 4.21 76.60% 10
1954 Steel Coulson Lager Beer 30 1032 1004.3 3.60 86.56% 11
1955 Tennent Lager 30 1036.1 1007.7 3.69 78.67% 9
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

1 comment:

qq said...

Interesting that there's only very modest support for the idea that the heatwaves of 75 and 76 played a critical role in the rise of lager - they obviously helped, but were part of a wider trend.